Random House New Releases - Philosophy - Ancient - Between March 3, 2014 and April 2, 2015.http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/results.pperl?max_returns=20&pub_date=back365%5fahead30&cat_id_ex=Philosophy%20%2d%20Ancient%3a5026&best=
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/rss.pperl?max_returns=20&pub_date=back365%5fahead30&cat_id_ex=Philosophy%20%2d%20Ancient%3a5026&best=en-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssDying Every Day by James Rommhttp://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307743749
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307743749<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307743749"><img align="right" src="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/catalog_cover.pperl?9780307743749" border="1"/></a><h3><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307743749">Dying Every Day</a> Seneca at the Court of Nero<br/><b>Written by</b> <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=94147">James Romm</a></h3><b>Trade Paperback</b>, 320 pages | Vintage | History - Ancient - Rome; Biography & Autobiography - Historical; Philosophy - Ancient | <b>$17.95</b> | December 2, 2014 | 978-0-307-74374-9 (0-307-74374-8)<p>From acclaimed classical historian, author of <i>Ghost on the Throne </i>a&#160; high-stakes drama full of murder, madness, tyranny, perversion, with the sweep of history on the grand scale.<br><br>At the center, the tumultuous life of Seneca, ancient Rome&rsquo;s preeminent writer and philosopher, beginning with banishment in his fifties and subsequent appointment as tutor to twelve-year-old Nero, future emperor of Rome. Controlling them both, Nero&rsquo;s mother, Julia Agrippina the Younger, Roman empress, great-granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus, sister of the Emperor Caligula, niece and fourth wife of Emperor Claudius.<br>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <br>James Romm seamlessly weaves together the life and written words, the moral struggles, political intrigue, and bloody vengeance that enmeshed Seneca the Younger in the twisted imperial family and the perverse, paranoid regime of Emperor Nero, despot and madman.<br><br>Romm writes that Seneca watched over Nero as teacher, moral guide, and surrogate father, and, at seventeen, when Nero abruptly ascended to become emperor of Rome, Seneca, a man never avid for political power became, with Nero, the ruler of the Roman Empire. We see how Seneca was able to control his young student, how, under Seneca&rsquo;s influence, Nero ruled with intelligence and moderation, banned capital punishment, reduced taxes, gave slaves the right to file complaints against their owners, pardoned prisoners arrested for sedition. But with time, as Nero grew vain and disillusioned, Seneca was unable to hold sway over the emperor, and between Nero&rsquo;s mother, Agrippina&mdash;thought to have poisoned her second husband, and her third, who was her uncle (Claudius), and rumored to have entered into an incestuous relationship with her son&mdash;and Nero&rsquo;s father, described by Suetonius as a murderer and cheat charged with treason, adultery, and incest, how long could the young Nero have been contained?<br>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <br><i>Dying Every Day</i> is a portrait of Seneca&rsquo;s moral struggle in the midst of madness and excess. In his treatises, Seneca preached a rigorous ethical creed, exalting heroes who defied danger to do what was right or embrace a noble death. As Nero&rsquo;s adviser, Seneca was presented with a more complex set of choices, as the only man capable of summoning the better aspect of Nero&rsquo;s nature, yet, remaining at Nero&rsquo;s side and colluding in the evil regime he created.<br><br><i>Dying Every Day</i> is the first book to tell the compelling and nightmarish story of the philosopher-poet who was almost a king, tied to a tyrant&mdash;as Seneca, the paragon of reason, watched his student spiral into madness and whose descent saw five family murders, the Fire of Rome, and a savage purge that destroyed the supreme minds of the Senate&rsquo;s golden age.</p><br clear="all">2014-12-02T00:30:00-05:00The Cave and the Light by Arthur Hermanhttp://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553385663
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553385663<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553385663"><img align="right" src="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/catalog_cover.pperl?9780553385663" border="1"/></a><h3><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553385663">The Cave and the Light</a> Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization<br/><b>Written by</b> <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=12717">Arthur Herman</a></h3><b>Trade Paperback</b>, 704 pages | Random House Trade Paperbacks | History - Civilization; Philosophy - Ancient; Philosophy - History, Criticism, Surveys | <b>$18.00</b> | June 3, 2014 | 978-0-553-38566-3 (0-553-38566-6)<p><b><b>Arthur Herman has now written the definitive sequel to his <i>New York Times</i> bestseller, <i>How the Scots Invented the Modern World, </i>and extends the themes of the book&mdash;which sold half a million copies worldwide&mdash;back to the ancient Greeks and forward to the age of the Internet. <i>The Cave and the Light </i>is a magisterial account of how the two greatest thinkers of the ancient world, Plato and Aristotle, laid the foundations of Western culture&mdash;and how their rivalry shaped the essential features of our culture down to the present day.</b><br></b> &#160;<br> Plato came from a wealthy, connected Athenian family and lived a comfortable upper-class lifestyle until he met an odd little man named Socrates, who showed him a new world of ideas and ideals. Socrates taught Plato that a man must use reason to attain wisdom, and that the life of a lover of wisdom, a philosopher, was the pinnacle of achievement. Plato dedicated himself to living that ideal and went on to create a school, his famed Academy, to teach others the path to enlightenment through contemplation.<br> &#160;<br> However, the same Academy that spread Plato&rsquo;s teachings also fostered his greatest rival. Born to a family of Greek physicians, Aristotle had learned early on the value of observation and hands-on experience. Rather than rely on pure contemplation, he insisted that the truest path to knowledge is through empirical discovery and exploration of the world around us. Aristotle, Plato&rsquo;s most brilliant pupil, thus settled on a philosophy very different from his instructor&rsquo;s and launched a rivalry with profound effects on Western culture.<br> &#160;<br> The two men disagreed on the fundamental purpose of the philosophy. For Plato, the image of the cave summed up man&rsquo;s destined path, emerging from the darkness of material existence to the light of a higher and more spiritual truth. Aristotle thought otherwise. Instead of rising above mundane reality, he insisted, the philosopher&rsquo;s job is to explain how the real world works, and how we can find our place in it. Aristotle set up a school in Athens to rival Plato&rsquo;s Academy: the Lyceum. The competition that ensued between the two schools, and between Plato and Aristotle, set the world on an intellectual adventure that lasted through the Middle Ages and Renaissance and that still continues today.<br> &#160;<br> From Martin Luther (who named Aristotle the third great enemy of true religion, after the devil and the Pope) to Karl Marx (whose utopian views rival Plato&rsquo;s), heroes and villains of history have been inspired and incensed by these two master philosophers&mdash;but never outside their influence.<br> &#160;<br> Accessible, riveting, and eloquently written, <i>The Cave and the Light</i> provides a stunning new perspective on the Western world, certain to open eyes and stir debate.<br><br><b>Praise for <i>The Cave and the Light</i></b><br> <b><i>&#160;</i></b><br>&ldquo;A sweeping intellectual history viewed through two ancient Greek lenses . . . breezy and enthusiastic but resting on a sturdy rock of research.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></b><br> &#160;<br> &ldquo;Examining mathematics, politics, theology, and architecture, the book demonstrates the continuing relevance of the ancient world.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>Publishers Weekly</i></b><br> <i>&#160;</i><br> &ldquo;A fabulous way to understand over two millennia of history, all in one book.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>Library Journal</i></b><br> <i>&#160;</i><br> &ldquo;Entertaining and often illuminating.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>The Wall Street Journal</i></b><br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i></p><br clear="all">2014-06-03T00:30:00-05:00The Roman Search for Wisdom by Michael K. Kellogghttp://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149253
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149253<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149253"><img align="right" src="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/catalog_cover.pperl?9781616149253" border="1"/></a><h3><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149253">The Roman Search for Wisdom</a> <br/><b>Written by</b> <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=179722">Michael K. Kellogg</a></h3><b>Hardcover</b>, 364 pages | Prometheus Books | Philosophy - Ancient; History - Ancient - Rome; Literary Criticism & Collections - Ancient, Classical & Medieval | <b>$28.95</b> | May 6, 2014 | 978-1-61614-925-3 (1-61614-925-6)<p><b>The Roman "philosophy of life" as mirrored in the literature of ten outstanding representative authors</b><br><br>Though Rome conquered much of the world and established an empire that lasted more than a millennium, its citizens sometimes expressed a sense of inferiority to the intellectual accomplishments of ancient Greece. The notion that Roman philosophers, thinkers, and writers were just pale imitations of Greek originals has persisted to this day. Even the great Roman poet Horace wrote, "Captive Greece took its Roman captor captive,/ Invading uncouth Latium with its arts."<br><br>Michael K. Kellogg puts this notion to rest in this lively, very readable overview of Roman literature. The author uncovers many examples of Roman wisdom, showing that the Roman contribution to intellectual history is considerable and need not take second place to ancient Greek literature.<br><br>Kellogg offers fresh and engaging portraits of poets (Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid); dramatists (Plautus, Terence, Seneca); biographers (Plutarch, Suetonius); historians (Livy, Tacitus); and philosophers (Cicero, Marcus Aurelius), against the background of Roman history. &#160;<br><br>The contemporary reader will come away from this excellent survey with the realization that even today our culture still bears the lasting imprint of ancient Rome.</p><br clear="all">2014-05-06T00:30:00-05:00The Roman Search for Wisdom by Michael K. Kellogghttp://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149260
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149260<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149260"><img align="right" src="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/catalog_cover.pperl?9781616149260" border="1"/></a><h3><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781616149260">The Roman Search for Wisdom</a> <br/><b>Written by</b> <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=179722">Michael K. Kellogg</a></h3><b>eBook</b>0 | Prometheus Books | Philosophy - Ancient; History - Ancient - Rome; Literary Criticism & Collections - Ancient, Classical & Medieval | <b>$12.99</b> | May 6, 2014 | 978-1-61614-926-0 (1-61614-926-4)<p><b>The Roman "philosophy of life" as mirrored in the literature of ten outstanding representative authors</b><br><br>Though Rome conquered much of the world and established an empire that lasted more than a millennium, its citizens sometimes expressed a sense of inferiority to the intellectual accomplishments of ancient Greece. The notion that Roman philosophers, thinkers, and writers were just pale imitations of Greek originals has persisted to this day. Even the great Roman poet Horace wrote, "Captive Greece took its Roman captor captive,/ Invading uncouth Latium with its arts."<br><br>Michael K. Kellogg puts this notion to rest in this lively, very readable overview of Roman literature. The author uncovers many examples of Roman wisdom, showing that the Roman contribution to intellectual history is considerable and need not take second place to ancient Greek literature.<br><br>Kellogg offers fresh and engaging portraits of poets (Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid); dramatists (Plautus, Terence, Seneca); biographers (Plutarch, Suetonius); historians (Livy, Tacitus); and philosophers (Cicero, Marcus Aurelius), against the background of Roman history. &#160;<br><br>The contemporary reader will come away from this excellent survey with the realization that even today our culture still bears the lasting imprint of ancient Rome.</p><br clear="all">2014-05-06T00:30:00-05:00